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Industry AppointmentsThe latest comings and goings
at BNY Mellon, Aztec Group, Deutsche Bank and more
Fund AdministrationAn insight into the current challenges in
the clearing and settlement space and how the processes can be enhanced
Clearing and SettlementThe current challenges in clearing
and settlement and how these processes can be enhanced
Time to shineSouth Africa’s asset servicing industry has become an established market in the
last 20 to 30 years, but industry experts say that there is still space to grow
ISSUE 241 27 May 2020The primary source of global asset servicing news and analysis
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Asset ManagementWealth Management Asset Services
Geneva Lausanne Zurich Basel Luxembourg LondonAmsterdam Brussels Paris Stuttgart Frankfurt MunichMadrid Barcelona Turin Milan Verona Rome Tel Aviv DubaiNassau Montreal Hong Kong Singapore Taipei Osaka Tokyoassetservices.pictet
Xxx_AssetServices_3rdPartyFunds_267x203_ENG.indd 1 22/10/2018 15:13
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The asset servicing industry has coped well with
the challenges presented by COVID 19, as clients
are overall happy and appreciative of the support
given, according to an R&M survey on how the
asset servicing industry is managing during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey, which was conducted in the first
two weeks of May, received 38 responses from
locations varying between New Zealand, Papua
New Guinea, Singapore, India, Denmark, Sweden,
Luxembourg, Ireland, USA, Canada and the UK.
It found that the most challenging aspect for
most people is working remotely with issues
over poor connectivity, the lack of face-to-face
meetings and market volatility.
Respondents suggested that the cost of project
work being deferred or delayed because of the
new working arrangements would be the most
challenging aspects of work in the next three to
six months.
One concern is that providers have had to divert
resources and that delivering on projects will be
delayed as a result.
Another concern the survey highlighted was
employees returning to the office environment
– will staff want to return, how safe will it be for
them to travel, what needs to be done to ensure
their personal protection in the office.
It noted that some firms see the long-term work-
ing from home strategy while others believe that
a balance will need to be struck between work-
ing from home and in the office.
In response to the survey, firms suggested that
the best way for providers to assist clients is to
continue to support key strategic projects and
continue with business as usual.
Respondents explained that generally, com-
munication from providers has been good with
contingency plans working well.
Other observations made by respondents
showed that people expect changes to arise
as a result of the change in working prac-
tices – more technology, more working from
home. However, it was pointed out that it does
not suit everyone, especially those living in
small properties.
Equally, the survey results noted there are con-
cerns about the ability to manage staff effectively
when they are working remotely.
Although a return to pre-COVID-19 practices
is a long way off, survey participants explained
that it may never fully occur as the adapted
working environment has shown new ways to
handle business.
Respondents explained that the main focus
will be on adjusting to the crisis and the next
steps will be to plan for the next year or two
and what changes need to be made to ensure
business continues.
Asset servicing industry ‘coped well’ during COVID-19 pandemic
Lead News Story
www.assetservicingtimes.com
3
Maddie Saghir reports
Clearing and SettlementAs COVID-19 has unearthed some of the inefficiencies and problems
in the financial services space, industry experts discuss the current
challenges in clearing and settlement and how these process
can be enhanced
Latest News
BitGo wins custody mandate for CoinDCX
6 16
Maddie Saghir reports
South AfricaSouth Africa’s asset servicing industry has become an established
market, but industry experts say that there is still space to grow
25
Becky Bellamy reports
Fund AdministrationJTC’s Nigel Le Quesne discusses why the US is a key growth market for
the firm after its recent acquisition of NES Financial
21
Latest News
CME to close NEX Regulatory Reporting and TR services
7
Latest News
BNP Paribas makes moves in Mexico
9
In this issue
www.assetservicingtimes.com
4
[email protected] | find us on twitter @SLTimes_ #SFTS2020SLTsymposium_QPA.indd 1SLTsymposium_QPA.indd 1 29/04/2020 09:39:2529/04/2020 09:39:25
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BitGo wins custody mandate for CoinDCX
BitGo has been appointed as custodian for
CoinDCX, a cryptocurrency exchange and
liquidity aggregator. With BitGo custody,
cryptocurrencies on the CoinDCX exchange
will be secured on the omnibus and segre-
gated hot and cold wallets with two-factor
authentication for all accounts, according
to CoinDCX.
Meanwhile, a fraction of the funds traded on the
CoinDCX exchange will be protected by BitGo’s
$100 million insurance policy, including users’
cryptocurrencies held on DCXLend, CoinDCX’s
lending service.
BitGo’s policy coverage will be provided by a
syndicate of insurers in the Lloyd’s of London
and European marketplace.
Pete Najarian, chief revenue officer, BitGo,
commented: “With the recent uptick in trading
volumes on Indian exchanges, the need of the
hour is for professionalisation in the form of
fund security in the crypto market.”
Sumit Gupta, CEO and co-founder of CoinDCX,
said: “With our #TryCrypto initiative, we have
seen widespread crypto adoption. CoinDCX has
always maintained, crypto adoption should be
safe, secure, and simple for everyone.”
Gupta added: “With more users joining on-board,
CoinDCX has taken yet another stride in con-
solidating our position as a trusted and secure
brand. With the custodial services of BitGo, we
want to make cryptocurrency utilisation in India,
safe and secure.”
DTCC embarks on digital exploration in the public and private markets
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation
(DTCC) is set to explore the benefits of digital-
isation in the public and private markets and
whether new technologies can strengthen
post-trade processes and reduce risks and costs.
DTCC’s proposals are contained in two case
studies, Project Ion and Project Whitney, which
mark the latest efforts by DTCC to examine
the potential use of distributed ledger tech-
nology, asset digitalisation as well as other
emerging technologies.
Project Ion seeks to build on DTCC’s efforts over
the past several years to further optimise the
settlement process in the public markets.
Meanwhile, Project Whitney considers
opportunities to provide increased levels of
digitalisation throughout the private market
asset lifecycle.
Mike Bodson, president and CEO at DTCC,
said: “DTCC has been a leader in the digital
transformation of financial markets since our
founding, and we’re building on that legacy
of innovation with projects to strengthen
post-trade processes.”
Bodson added: “These case studies reimagine
the private markets lifecycle and the public
markets settlement processes, and they could
significantly modernise and enhance how trad-
ing activity is processed in the future.”
“We look forward to working collaboratively
with our clients, regulators and other key
stakeholders as we advance these concepts in
partnership with the industry.”
Latest News
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6
images by moondogpro/shutterstock.com
CME to close NEX Regulatory Reporting and TR services
CME has confirmed plans to wind down Abide
Financial and NEX Regulatory Reporting and its
European and Australian trade repositories (TR)
by 30 November. A spokesperson for CME said
that the decision to close the reporting hub’s
doors came “following an evaluation of our busi-
ness portfolio after the acquisition of NEX Group
in November 2018”.
CME will retain the US (CFTC) swap data reposi-
tory and Canadian trade repository services.
“During the coming months, CME Group will
work closely with all clients and regulators
to ensure a smooth transition and an orderly
wind-down of the impacted services,” the
spokesperson added.
NEX Regulatory Reporting was licenced to
operate as a TR under the European Markets
Infrastructure Regulatory and the Securities
Financing Transactions Regulation, which is due
to come into effect in July.
Those clients will now be faced with the daunt-
ing task of sourcing a new TR and approved
reporting mechanism in a few short months
before go-live, with all the on-boarding and
testing steps this entails.
Commenting on the news of the shut-
down, Cappitech said: “Over a thousand
CME clients will need to find a new TR solu-
tion and/or onboard their reporting with a
new vendor. Tremendous challenges come
with this process including having to port
TR data.
“Clients may need to change from the format
they are used to using, and work with a new
vendor to ensure their previously used report-
ing processes and technical environments are
understood so as to make a swift switch.”
As a whole, CME accounts for 38 percent of
global volume market share and processed over
2.5 billion trades in 2017.
CME is also responsible for about 40 percent of
global trade reporting volume so the impact
on is significant and will involve a shift across
the market.
Jennifer Peve, managing director, business
innovation at DTCC, said: “Projects Ion and
Whitney represent the next steps in our
digitalisation journey. Both serve as exam-
ples of practical experiments incorporating
innovative technology and business con-
cepts designed to strengthen post-trade
processes and provide a resilient, secure
and efficient post-trade infrastructure for
the industry.”
BNY Mellon reveals US Master Trust Universe results for Q1
BNY Mellon’s US Master Trust Universe, a BNY
Mellon global risk solutions fund-level track-
ing service, has revealed negative Q1 2020 after
returning a median of -10.9 percent, reversing
the trend of positive quarterly performance
throughout 2019.
In aggregate, US Master Trust Universe plans
reported a one-year return of -2.65 percent,
trailing the three-year annualised return of
+3.71 percent and a five-year annualised return
of +4.01 percent, respectively.
The Q1 results also showed that less than 5
percent of plans posted positive results, and
corporate plans were the highest performing
plan type, benefitting from their higher alloca-
tions to US fixed income than other plan types.
Additionally, the results found that foundations
underperformed other plan types due to hav-
ing the lowest allocation to fixed income of any
plan type.
BNY Mellon draws insight and information
about the current state of asset flow, par-
ticularly in the current environment in which
investors continue to react to the economic
Latest News
www.assetservicingtimes.com
7
implications of COVID-19 from an investment
management perspective.
Frances Barney, CFA, head of global risk solu-
tions at BNY Mellon, said: “In the first quarter
of 2020, US fixed income was the highest per-
forming asset class, overweighting its peers by
22 percent.”
“Due to corporate plans tendency to allocate more
assets to fixed income than other plan types, this
overweight resulted in corporate plans being the
top performing plan type for the quarter.”
The BNY Mellon US Master Trust Universe, which
is designed to provide peer comparisons by plan
type and size and is comprised of 519 corporate,
foundation, endowment, public, Taft-Hartley, and
health care plans.
Onchain Custodian collaborates with Cyberbank to ramp up digital asset solutions
Onchain Custodian has collaborated with
CyberBank, a digital fintech group that has
expanded its cloud-based digital asset solu-
tions with the addition of a digital assets
trading service.
The new digital assets trading service, CyberBank,
provides a stable and secure multidimensional
solution for global digital asset trading.
The group also noted that its “abundant liquidity
reserves and powerful open financial ecosystem
makes Cyberbank a core technology for support-
ing ecosystem development”.
Cyberbank Cloud is run by a team of experienced
professionals such as blockchain project manag-
ers, investors, and cloud service teams.
As part of CyberBank’s new partnership,
Onchain Custodian’s custody solution will aid
CyberBank’s trading platform business in meeting
regulatory compliance.
According to CyberBank, it is the first to build a
model that combines an exchange, custody ser-
vices provider and investment funds.
Additionally, the partnership with Onchain
Custodian will allow CyberBank to complete
its business offerings, by tapping on Onchain
Custodian’s expertise in the custody of
digital assets.
CyberBank will adopt Onchain Custodian’s secure
and insured custody solution to upgrade the
security level in its entire business ecosystem.
Cyberbank’s cloud-based digital asset solutions
include overall trading systemic cloud service
and are able to build platforms for spot trading,
futures trading, option trading, and over the
counter trading.
Neo Peng, the founder of CyberBank, com-
mented: “Having the alliance between two giants,
we will build a unique, fully custodian digital
asset exchange platform with insurance coverage,
hence forming an ecosystem where members
are motivated to trade knowing the assets are
safely held by custodial wallets. CyberBank will
provide spot trading, contract trading and busi-
ness expansion for investors.”
Onchain Custodian China vice president, Jimmy
Cheung, added: “Digital assets have become an
inevitable trend worldwide and it will require
standardisation in all trading business from trad-
ing groups. Tapping on the exchange business
as an entry to, and its network linkage to other
businesses, one can extend the life cycle of a sin-
gle business. Completing that with nurturing of
industry talents, conventional finance groups will
be able to transform and upgrade themselves to
digital finance technology groups.”
China Construction Bank Asia joins common depository network
Clearstream and Euroclear, the international
central securities depositories (ICSDs) have
appointed China Construction Bank (CCB) Asia
as a common depository, safe keeper and ser-
vice provider for its Eurobonds, international
debt securities.
CCB Asia applied to, and successfully passed, the
recent common depository qualification process
and will be appointed as common depository,
safe-keeper and service provider to support the
ICSDs’ global Eurobonds issuance model, effec-
tive by mid-2020.
The two ICSDs act jointly as the central hub of
issuance and deposit for Eurobonds, working
with a number of large financial institutions act-
ing as common depositories to support issuers
across the globe.
According to Arnaud Delestienne, head of
Eurobonds business at Clearstream, the popu-
larity of Eurobonds as a funding and investment
vehicle has been growing constantly, not just in
mature markets such as Europe and Northern
America, but globally, reflecting increased activ-
ity out of growing regions, such as Asia Pacific
(APAC) and Asia, Middle East and Africa.
Delestienne said: “It has now become a corner-
stone of global funding plans for Asian issuers,
be it in USD, EUR or even local currencies. The
appointment of CCB (Asia) reflects this growing
demand, facilitating access to the international
capital markets for Chinese issuers.”
Latest News
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8
images by suriel_ramzal/shutterstock.com
BNP Paribas makes moves in Mexico
BNP Paribas Securities Services has started
operations in Mexico, providing daily account-
ing and valuation services as well as tax pricing
and regulatory reporting. The operations will
be run through an existing BNP Paribas subsid-
iary - BNP Paribas Asset Management México,
S.A. de C.V. Sociedad Operadora de Fondos
de Inversión.
The opening of a new market in Mexico is a
major milestone for BNP Paribas Securities
Services in the Americas region.
The Mexico office joins Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Peru and the US as the seventh country in the
Americas where BNP Paribas Securities Services
has local expertise.
Francisco Hernandez, country head for Mexico,
stated: “We have been growing our presence in
Mexico significantly over the past few years and
are delighted to be able to offer local clients new
products and solutions.”
“With this new milestone, we are now able to
offer our institutional clients a more complete
pan-Americas fund services solution.”
Claudia Calderon, head of Hispanic Latin
America at BNP Paribas Securities Services,
commented: “This opening is one more step
in expanding our Latin America presence, and
highlights the strength of our offering in the
region, as we continue to leverage our global
and multi-local expertise around the world.”
BNP Paribas has had a presence in Mexico for
over 50 years. In December 2019, BNP Paribas
obtained approval from the Mexican Banking
and Securities Commission to incorporate as a
local bank in Mexico.
According to BNP Paribas, this will enable it to
further expand its product offering to include
Global Markets, an area where the bank is a
leader. The strategy is part of a wider regional
growth plan encompassing the Americas.
It was also noted that issuers benefit from
greater investor reach by leveraging the
ICSDs’ international client bases and multi-
currency model.
This international issuance model is supported
by an interoperable link allowing clients to
settle cross-border transactions seamlessly
throughout the day, which increases the liquid-
ity available to market participants.
CCB Asia’s transaction banking specialises in all
aspects of corporate trust, private trust, fund
trust, loan agency, custody and fund adminis-
tration businesses.
Alan Lai, head of transaction banking at
CCB Asia, commented: “CCB (Asia)’s aim is to
broaden the Eurobond market to reach more
APAC market participants – especially new
issuers and investors from the People’s Republic
of China.”
Lai continued: “As a leading PRC bank, we are
ideally placed to leverage our brand and net-
work to better serve PRC market participants
in the same language and time zone.”
“We are honoured to be the first PRC bank
appointed as common depositary and we
look forward to a successful partnership with
the ICSDs.”
Kathleen Holemans, head of network manage-
ment at Euroclear, added: “We are extremely
pleased to be announcing with our colleagues
at Clearstream the appointment of China
Construction Bank (Asia) as common deposi-
tory hub for our Eurobonds.”
“The Eurobond market is attracting a wider
investor base in Asia with an increased need
for diversification and liquidity.”
Latest News
www.assetservicingtimes.com
9
CIBC Mellon was named Canada’s best sub-custodian in the Global Finance Best Sub-custodian Awards 2019.
With more than 1,500 professionals exclusively focused on servicing Canadian investors and global investors into Canada, CIBC Mellon can deliver on-the-ground execution, expertise and insights to help clients navigate the Canadian market. Leveraging the technology and scale of BNY Mellon, a global leader in investment servicing, and the local presence of CIBC, one of Canada’s leading financial institutions, CIBC Mellon has the experience and the capabilities to help you succeed in Canada.
Learn more, contact:Richard Anton at +1 416 643 5240Abdul Sheikh at +1 905 755 7118 www.cibcmellon.com
©2020 CIBC Mellon. A BNY Mellon and CIBC Joint Venture Company. CIBC Mellon is a licensed user of the CIBC trade-mark and certain BNY Mellon trade-marks, is the corporate brand of CIBC Mellon Trust Company and CIBC Mellon Global Securities Services Company and may be used as a generic term to reference either or both companies.
1 Provided by CIBC2 Provided by BNY Mellon
Canadian custody and sub-custody Brokerage1
Canadian correspondent banking1 Investment fund services
Broker-dealer clearing MIS (Workbench, STP scorecard, trade match report card)
Securities lending2 Data analytics2
Canada’s Leader in Sub-custodyGlobal Finance Best Sub-custodian Awards 2019
Eurex STS and Access Fintech join forces on CSDR
Deutsche Boerse’s buy-in agent, Eurex
Securities Transactions Services (Eurex STS),
has partnered with Access Fintech’s to create
integration between their complementary
services for the Central Securities Depositories
Regulation (CSDR).
CSDR aims to improve settlement rates in secu-
rities markets by imposing punitive measures on
firms that fail to settle trades and is due to come
into effect in February 2021.
Access Fintech offers a CSDR solution that can
allow clients to manage the entire lifecycle of
in-scope transactions.
By using the CSDR product in conjunction with
its other live settlements product, Access Fintech
noted that it can enable clients to manage the
regulation’s penalties and buy-ins and more effi-
ciently prevent fails entirely.
Meanwhile, Eurex STS provides a neutral market-
place for buy-ins to be completed when required.
Through the new partnership, mutual clients will
be able to manage buy-ins via Eurex STS through
the Access Fintech infrastructure, thereby min-
imising touchpoints, maximising efficiencies
and ensuring a robust audit history against
impacted trades.
According to a spokesperson, Eurex is aiming to
make the communication with its buy-in agent
platform as seamless as possible.
“However, while clients will be able to connect
to our platform directly, some also require
further connectivity choices,” the spokes-
person commented.
They continued: “In this respect, we are working
with Access Fintech to discuss and analyse the
possibility of our two platforms communicating
with each other through our application pro-
gramming interface.”
Pardeep Cassells, head of financial products at
Access Fintech, said: “Access Fintech [is] extremely
excited in partnering with Eurex STS as the first
confirmed buy-in agent, our CSDR offering is
completely end-to-end, and Eurex’s position in
that is critical.”
Cassells affirmed that Access Fintech has the
infrastructure to “manage the lifecycle and sup-
port any buy-in agents, making clients agnostic
to the needs of individual agents, with Eurex
being the start of the process”.
Elsewhere, Eurex STS recently gained a bank-
ing licence from the German Federal Financial
Supervision Authority (BaFin), where it currently
offers an automated and standardised way to
avoid the punitive features of the CSDR settle-
ment discipline regime.
State Street partners with Coremont
State Street has partnered with Coremont to
provide fully integrated outsourcing services for
hedge fund managers, covering the front, middle
and back-office operations.
This alliance combines Coremont’s portfolio man-
agement analytics and support with State Street’s
asset servicing and administration capabilities
to power the entire investment lifecycle from
trading to risk management to NAV production.
State Street explained that the offering spans
all major asset classes including fixed income,
currencies, equities, and commodities, with
strong coverage in derivatives modelling
and processing.
Paul Fleming, global head of alternative
investment services at State Street, said: “This
announcement marks a transformation in how
hedge funds can be serviced, highlighting the
invaluable insights data can bring when com-
bined with new technologies.”
He continued: “Through this solution, we are
providing our clients with a single, consolidated
set of records between portfolio managers and
administrators, ensuring greater transparency
and reduction of errors.”
Jev Mehmet, CEO at Coremont, added: “This
alliance represents the fruit of our long-stand-
ing collaboration with State Street. It underlines
our shared commitment to technological and
operational excellence in the support of emerg-
ing and established managers of all styles and
asset classes.”
Australian superannuation fund goes live with GoldenSource Nexus
HESTA has selected GoldenSource’s investment
data management platform to support strategic
investment decisions and the selective insourc-
ing of funds management.
The Australian superannuation fund will use
GoldenSource Nexus as the hub for its strategic
investment data transformation programme.
The infrastructure supported by GoldenSource
OnDemand hosting and applications services is
set to enable HESTA to focus on managing more
investment in-house, delivering improved invest-
ment decisions and reporting, using a greater
variety of data sources.
Latest News
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11
images by panumas_yanuthai/shutterstock.com
Citco expands strategic partnership programme
Citco, a provider of asset servicing solutions
to the global alternative investment indus-
try, has partnered with securities class action
recovery service provider, Financial Recovery
Technologies (FRT). The new partnership will
enable Citco to offer its clients class action mon-
itoring and recovery solutions via its platform.
FRT is now the fourth solutions provider to
be added to Citco’s strategic partnership pro-
gramme, focused on creating an integrated
ecosystem of leading third-party buy-side tech-
nology solutions, which was launched last year.
FRT works with over 800 firms to help institu-
tional investors monitor litigations, identify
eligibility, file claims and collect funds made
available in shareholder class action, global and
antitrust settlements.
Citco noted that partnerships such as this allow
it to further its offering by finding new avenues
of utility for the client portfolio data it already
collects and processes, instead of isolating it for
single-use.
Albert Bauer, managing director of Citco,
said: “Continued development of our stra-
tegic partnership program by seamlessly
integrating complementary services to our
existing offering, is allowing Citco to create a
one-stop-shop for clients. By doing so we are
ultimately reducing costs for our clients and
making their lives easier. We are delighted
to partner with FRT, the leading provider of
securities class action recovery to offer addi-
tional value add solutions to our current and
future clients.
Rob Adler, president of FRT, noted that the
world of class actions has evolved dramatically
over the last five years, requiring investors to
evaluate their existing governance, controls,
and protocols.
Adler added: “FRT has been investing in our rela-
tionships with partners to help them provide
their clients with access to FRT’s comprehen-
sive suite of services geared at addressing the
growing complexities of the global securities
and non-securities class action landscape.”
Additionally, the new investment data man-
agement service will bring together the data
from HESTA’s middle- and back-office ser-
vices and investment consulting providers,
as well as its external fund managers and
multiple market data and internal sources.
Key features such as management of com-
plex fund structures and drill through and
look through capabilities will support asset
allocation decision-making, portfolio/fund
sector analysis, portfolio risk management,
performance attribution reporting, expense
management, reconciliations, NAV oversight and
board reporting.
Gerard Brown, executive investment execution
at HESTA, said: “We look forward to working
with GoldenSource to help us deliver outstand-
ing execution and real-time data to support
investment decision making. We are growing
rapidly and need a scalable system to provide
timely data insights. Selecting GoldenSource is
the first step in transforming and futureproof-
ing our entire data infrastructure that helps to
deliver strong, long-term investment perfor-
mance for HESTA members.”
John Eley, CEO at GoldenSource, commented:
“Due to increased regulatory pressure and an
industry-wide drive for automation and effi-
ciency we are seeing a significant rise in the
number of superannuation and investment
funds looking for a full data management plat-
form as a service, fit to support their growth
and maturity. We are pleased to be working
with HESTA to support them through their
strategic transformation.”
The GoldenSource Nexus investment data
management platform allows buy-side firms
to benefit from a single platform of inter-
linked datasets for all market, reference and
reporting data.
Latest News
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13
The European Securities and Markets Authority
(ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has
granted four trade repositories (TRs) with licences
to operate under the Securities Financing
Transactions Regulation (SFTR).
The green light was given to DTCC Derivatives
Repository, UnaVista Trade, KDPW, the Polish
central securities depository (CSD), and REGIS-TR.
When SFTR reporting obligations begin in
July firms will need to report their SFTs to an
approved TR. All four TRs have been registered
for all types of SFT’s, which include: repos, secu-
rities or commodities lending and securities or
commodities borrowing transactions, buy-sell
back or sell-buy back transactions and margin
lending transactions.
The regulation is designed to increase market
transparency by allowing regulatory authorities
to assess the risks associated with the securities
financing market.
The TRs were already registered with ESMA as
TRs for derivatives contracts under the European
Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), the pre-
cursor to SFTR.
The authorisation of the TRs under SFTR was
initially set to be completed by the phase-one
go-live on 13 April.
In March, when ESMA granted a three-month
grace period that saw phase one and two com-
bined on the latter’s deadline in July it also said
it “[did] not consider it necessary to register any
TR ahead of 13 April”.
At the time, ESMA said the delay would give TRs
more time to cope with the COVID-19 emergency
and be ready to support the new reporting
regime at a later point in time.
It further stated that TRs should expect to get
their cards stamped “sufficiently ahead” of July,
but many still expected this to happen just
before the deadline.
Commenting on the approval, Val Wotton,
managing director, repository and derivatives
services at DTCC, said: “We’re pleased with this
decision. With less than three months remain-
ing before SFTR’s implementation deadline for
banks, investment firms, central counterparties
and CSDs, we are encouraged by the level of
their preparations.”
REGIS-TR CEO Thomas Steimann stated: “We
are delighted to be expanding our product
offering to SFTR services, combining our wealth
of knowledge in securities financing and
expertise in regulatory reporting. Alleviating
the reporting burden for market participants,
we are the natural choice of trade repository
for SFTR.”
Meanwhile, Mark Husler, CEO of UnaVista, com-
mented: “UnaVista’s approach to SFTR is to
simplify things as much as possible for our com-
munity, that means making easy to prepare, test
and connect and then providing tools to help
firms improve their reporting once live.”
He added: “This will mean that our customers and
their clients will be able to ensure compliance
with their SFTR reporting obligations from day
one in a simple, cost-efficient way.”
ESMA hands four TRs their SFTR licences
images by mike_mareen/shutterstock.com
Latest News
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14
The global pandemic has shaken up many industries and has caused market
volatility in the financial services space. In particular, this has shone a light
on the inefficiencies in clearing and settlement and has amplified the need
for an enhanced process in this space.
Clearing is the procedure where financial trades settle, which encompasses
the transfer of funds to the seller and securities to the buyer. Clearing is
necessary for the matching of all buy and sell orders in the market. The
payment and settlement space covers processes including cash flow gener-
ation, confirmation of the amounts between participants, netting, payment
instruction and settlement management. Industry experts note that this is
usually a very onerous set of manual tasks that lacks standardisation and
centralisation.
In this regard, industry experts from Clearstream, LCH, FIX, and OCC discuss
the challenges in this area and where the opportunities lie, and how tech-
nology can help to enable a more streamlined approach.
Picking the SUV or the Sedan?
When it comes to clearing and the challenges of integration and cross-mar-
ket harmonisation, there is a balance to be struck between what is effective
for the trading desk and what is effective for the back office.
When selecting a car, Matt Wolfe, vice president of strategic planning and
development, at OCC, says: “There is a reason that crossover SUVs are the
most purchased vehicles. They have decent performance while still gen-
erally covering our needs for utility. In circumstances such as driving on a
twisty mountain road, they are not as invigorating as a sports car. In other
circumstances, such as moving a child to college or big weekend projects,
they aren’t nearly as helpful as a pick-up truck. For most of us, we don’t
often spend a lot of time winding up and down mountain passes, nor do
we have a daily need to haul couches or sheets of plywood, so a middle of
the road solution is the most practical.”
Enhancing the processMaddie Saghir reports
As COVID-19 has unearthed some of the inefficiencies and problems in the financial services space, industry experts discuss the current challenges in clearing and settlement and how these processes can be enhanced
Clearing and Settlement
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16
Unfortunately, Wolfe says, this same context has been applied to trading
and clearing systems.
According to Wolfe, the trading desks really deserve sports cars that are
designed to be nimble and fast. Meanwhile, back-office teams can be more
effective in a pick-up truck where utility is more useful than speed.
Indeed, while the trading desks could benefit from a fast and nimble sports-
car-like approach, the back-office favour a more SUV-like approach as the
need is for utility, according to Wolfe.
Wolfe cautions that different product types deserve individually designed
systems. “Often though a system designed for one purpose is extended to
try and support another product. While this can work, it generally leads to
certain functions being inefficient and/or manual,” he highlights.
Wolfe illustrates this point by saying: “As firms have grown their trading
desks, they’ve often traded in the SUV for a sedan, which has improved the
trader’s experience, but it’s made the back-office’s job more difficult and
often results in road trips with items sticking out the back of the car and/
or items strapped to the roof.”
Echoing the need to look at different products carefully, Matthias Graulich,
member of the Eurex Clearing executive board, observes that the market
is developing in the direction of looking holistically across products and
asset classes to actively manage the banks’ resources, but there is clearly
still room for improvement and further integration.
Looking at the current situation in the clearing space, Graulich says balance
sheets and capital are scarce resources on the bank side.
“We, as central clearing counterparties (CCPs), can offer multilateral netting
benefits for capital and margin requirements, which delivers higher effi-
ciencies than keeping trades bilateral,” says Graulich.
However, he notes that it is one thing for CCPs to offer and implement
cross-margining between listed and over the counter derivatives or
cross-margining between derivatives and securities finance transactions.
What is more challenging, Graulich says, is the capacity for clients to be able
to consume that information. This relates to the clients’ systems and also to
the clients’ responsibilities, which are often product or asset class specific.
“Bringing these responsibilities together and integrating the infrastructure
to process these efficiencies is key to success,” he notes.
Ankeet Dedhia, Americas head of product, ForexClear, LCH, says that
although FX clearing has seen a significant increase in activity in recent
years, due to regulatory incentives as well as margin and capital benefits,
there are still some integration and harmonisation challenges which need
to be addressed, to enable wider FX clearing adoption. One such chal-
lenge, according to Dedhia, is straight-through processing (STP) workflow
and platform integration. There are a variety of electronic communication
networks, platforms supporting the various voice and electronic workflows
in FX.
Dedhia affirms: “The complex environment means that integrating these
workflows into clearing and providing STP client experience continues to
be a challenge for some participants. To broaden access to clearing, LCH
continues to engage with the market to improve and enhance clearing
workflow integration.”
Another challenge for some participants is the trade execution costs associ-
ated with increased complexity from UMR’s collateralisation, Dedhia notes.
“Some participants may also find that there is a secondary economic impact
of needing to pay for optimisation vendors, third-party custodians and
other consultants – costs not captured in ‘price’ but linked to execution
decisions,” he adds.
Often though a system designed for one purpose is extended to try and support another product. While this can work, it generally leads to certain functions being inefficient and/or manual
Clearing and Settlement
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Opening the door to enhancements
As some of the main challenges have been identified as inefficient and man-
ual processes, technology is one of the keys to opportunities in this space.
ForexClear’s Dedhia says that clearing provides firms with an opportunity
to look at their legacy FX workflows with a fresh set of eyes and identify
where and how clearing fits in.
“We expect technology to be a huge enabler of this evolution away from
legacy workflows. Clearing also offers multilateral netting for all trading
counterparties, hence providing payments and settlement efficiency via
netting of payments and collateral obligations,” Dedhia adds.
According to Dedhia, this opens the door for many further enhancements
in the payments, netting and settlement space.
“Again, clearing delivers tremendous value to clients with large pay-
ment operations, and these technology and workflow providers are all
working to turn the key to unlock the necessary solutions for clients,”
Dedhia stipulates.
Meanwhile, Wolfe identifies that new modular systems enable both clear-
inghouses and market participants to operate more effectively, adapt more
quickly, and better serve their clients.
He observes that technology is enabling companies to operate systems
that are designed to meet the specific requirements of different prod-
ucts and functions, which improves the efficiency and effectiveness
over legacy systems where workarounds and manual processes have
hampered productivity.
Additionally, Wolfe notes that by having more modular systems, it is eas-
ier for companies to adapt their systems to meet their strategic goals.
Additionally, lowered operational costs and greater flexibility means that
companies can better serve their clients.
Solutions in the making
With all of the challenges in place, solutions to combat some of these
issues are coming into play. For example, last year, the Johannesburg Stock
Exchange formulated a new trading and clearing solution for equity and
currency derivatives to create “better integration and cross-market harmo-
nisation” for its regulatory, trading and clearing markets.
Wolfe notes that in the past infrastructure was very expensive to build and
maintain, so it made sense to have the costly servers and databases support
as many products using as few systems as possible. However, advancements
in cloud technology have made infrastructure cheaper and more flexible.
He says that this enables opportunities to “improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of different product teams by breaking legacy monolithic
systems into product-focused modules that effectively talk to each other
in an independent manner”.
Many firms are decoupling their legacy system functionality into multiple
product or function-focused modules that can talk to each other in ways
that were not possible before, according to Wolfe.
“The new architecture is designed to have microservice-based systems that
handle each product and/or function in their own unique ways. For exam-
ple, it is easy to configure a cloud environment that has relatively powerful
computational resources and relatively lower storage resources to support
a trading platform,” he says.
We expect technology to be a huge enabler of this evolution away from legacy workflows. Clearing also offers multilateral netting for all trading counterparties, hence providing payments and settlement efficiency via netting of payments and collateral obligations
Clearing and Settlement
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18
He continues: “It is just as easy to create a separate environment for a
back-office position management system with less costly computing
resources and greater storage resources. This allows technology to
provide much better service to different business units, while often
reducing costs.”
The future landscape
Looking at how the clearing and settlement arena take off in the years to
come, Dedhia believes that with many market participants experiencing
the increased costs of capital and margin on uncleared derivatives, cleared
FX has the potential to become one of the largest cleared asset classes,
with more participants choosing to clear a wider set of FX products for risk
efficiency and operational benefits.
As well as this, Dedhia expects to see further innovation in the clearing and
settlement space to support market efficiency.
Dedhia comments: “We have also seen a host of vendors offering compres-
sion and optimization solutions to help market participants manage capital
costs, margin costs, or counterparty exposure by either participating in
bilateral/multilateral compression, or by moving risk across trading coun-
terparties for cleared/uncleared portfolios. Some of these solutions could
be extended to make clearing and settlement more efficient and would be
something to watch in the future.”
Neena Dholani, global marketing and membership director for FIX Trading
Community, suggests that one of the key areas of development is to ensure
that post-trade processing, both upstream and downstream of payments
are connected and consistent in their messaging language.”
“Within the FIX Trading Community, we allow firms to manage their execu-
tion, their allocation and confirmation processing, and now moving down
into confirming payment amounts before they are instructed.”
“Allowing for the matching and confirmation of these cash flows brings huge
benefits, and whilst they are currently only on a gross level we are looking
at rolling this out for net flows as well as looking at settlement management
and notifications”, Dholani says.
Meanwhile, at OCC, Wolfe sees the adoption of new technology solu-
tions which are creating opportunities for clearing and settlement. “As
the industry implements new and more flexible solutions, it will be
easier to expand support for new products as well as new partici-
pants. This is certainly a goal of OCC’s ongoing transformation and
as more participants can take advantage of clearing, the industry
will see a continued decrease in the cost of doing business as well
as increased revenues from higher utilisation and/or better pricing,”
Wolfe adds.
Graulich predicts there will be changes in terms of the structure of the
market. He comments: “Given the fact that today, there is an extremely
high level of concentration on a few client clearing service providers, I think
topics like direct access or hybrid direct access of the buy-side to CCPs will
play a bigger role in the future.”
Additionally, Graulich predicts that this will also address some of
the challenges on the banks’ side with regards to balance sheet and
capital restrictions.
Graulich concludes: “Technology is again an important enabler to help
to put all the necessary pipes in place to make such a new environment
work effectively.”
Given the fact that today, there is an extremely high level of concentration on a few client clearing service providers, I think topics like direct access or hybrid direct access of the buy-side to CCPs will play a bigger role in the future
Clearing and Settlement
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19
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CEE starts in ViennaOne entry to 18 markets
JTC’s Nigel Le Quesne discusses why the US is a key growth market for the firm after its recent acquisition of NES Financial
Becky Bellamy reports
Opportunities to be had
Why is the US a ‘key growth market’ for JTC?
The US has been a key growth area for us for some time. We believe that the
US fund administration sector is still consolidating and will continue to do so
for some time. Market drivers such as increased regulations, a trend for more
outsourcing of administration services and advances in technology mean
that many clients now want to work with a global administration partner
that has the expertise, experience and technology to meet their needs.
The prevalence of using a third-party administrator, for instance, is much
lower in the US (around 35 percent of managers) than in Europe (around 70
percent of managers) so the growth potential in the US alternatives space
is significant. This, combined with the structural growth we are seeing in
capital allocation to alternative assets means that there is much more to go
for in terms of the number of funds that outsource administration.
Fund Administration
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21
That all makes it a highly attractive market for us, and in our recent acquisi-
tion of NES Financial (NESF), we feel we have found the perfect partner and
platform to drive the strategic expansion not only of our US fund admin-
istration business but also our Institutional Client Services Division more
widely. Our focus now is on integrating NESF into our existing business – it
will play a key part in our drive to win new business and increase our global
market share of the fund administration market.
What current opportunities are there to be had in the US fund
administration industry?
As part of our established inorganic growth strategy, we had been looking
for a fund administration platform in the important US market for some
time. We see a lot of potential deals and have a very disciplined approach
to mergers and acquisitions, using very specific criteria that guides our
research, due diligence and negotiations.
In NESF, in particular, we saw the perfect combination of an established
fund administration business with a real focus on client service excellence
and innovative business that has embraced technology to provide better
and more efficient services. In addition, the NESF team are very strong and
were completely aligned with our culture. For all those reasons, we believe
that NESF is the perfect partner to create our fund administration platform
in the US and connect that market to the capabilities in the rest of the
JTC Group. Ultimately, by building our US platform, we feel there is a real
opportunity to harness that experience, strength and capability to bolster
our global proposition.
What other trends are you seeing in the market?
At JTC, we talk a lot about us being a people business that is enabled by
technology and those ideas remain key trends for us. We believe that deep
expertise and strong relationships will always be of vital importance to cli-
ents, but that over time technology capabilities will naturally sit alongside
those elements to create the optimal service proposition. The technology
capabilities that we are looking to buy and develop are those that enhance
client service levels, enable new services and deliver operational efficiency.
Certainly, in the current environment, strong relationships underpinned by
a reliable, innovative technology platform are more valuable than ever, and
that will continue to be the case long term.
What are the biggest challenges for JTC right now?
Have priorities shifted amid the COVID-19 pandemic?
The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented, and our primary concern has
been for the wellbeing of our people, our clients and our partners. However,
we have been delighted with the resilience the business has already shown
in dealing with the impact of restrictions - our business continuity team had
over 900 colleagues up and running with home working in a matter of days.
It has been a challenge, of course, but the nature of our business means that
we can continue providing our services to the usual high standards even
under extended business continuity conditions.
It is too early to tell what the longer-term impacts might be, for example
around business development work, but at the present time we are still
seeing great engagement from our clients and partners and we are still
winning new mandates.
With regulations being delayed due to the current situation,
how will this impact the market?
The immediate focus generally in the sector is on ensuring business conti-
nuity and providing clients with reliable ongoing support. There will clearly
The immediate focus generally in the sector is on ensuring business continuity and providing clients with reliable ongoing support. There will clearly be an impact on the markets and something of a hiatus in terms of deal completion, fund launches and regulatory initiatives coming on track
Fund Administration
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22
be an impact on the markets and something of a hiatus in terms of deal
completion, fund launches and regulatory initiatives coming on track, but
our experience tells us that fund managers, corporates, financial and pro-
fessional services firms, as well as HNW/UHNW individuals and families, all
acknowledge the importance of compliance with increasingly wide-ranging
and complex regulatory regimes in the long run – and many are taking the
opportunity now to focus on governance and regulatory functions.
They understand that requirements for accurate and timely disclosure of
information have increased and will continue to do so, long after the corona-
virus pandemic. Clients are increasingly turning to specialist administrators
with global reach, knowledge and experience to manage this, so whilst
new regulations might be on hold, it is certainly busy in terms of regulatory
advice.
How do you think the pandemic will overall impact the fund
administration market short and long term?
In the short term, administrators will likely see a spike in activity as managers
and investors look for solutions to challenges thrown up by the pandemic,
such as market turmoil, structuring issues, governance and compliance,
and fundraising.
Longer term, ultimately, the pandemic will really put the resilience of fund
administrators to the test, and we are likely to see some winners and losers
in that respect.
From our point of view, we have always believed that JTC is a highly resilient
business and the challenges presented by COVID-19 have brought this into
focus. The response of the group has been excellent and we are confident of
our ability to successfully trade through this period for a number of reasons.
We have, for example, a highly experienced management team; a track
record of revenue and profit growth spanning 32 years; a well-invested and
scalable global platform; and we are well diversified across clients, services
and geographies.
In order to maintain a clear focus during an unprecedented and fast-chang-
ing scenario, we have adopted three core principles to guide our actions.
‘Wellbeing’ relates to actions that will support and protect the wellbeing of
our people, clients and partners; ‘service’ relates to actions that will ensure
continued service excellence to clients whilst minimising impact wherever
possible; and ‘commercial’ relates to actions that will support all JTC stake-
holders and minimise any long-term commercial impact on the group.
Finally, is there anything else in the pipeline for JTC?
Are you planning any further expansions?
JTC has a strong track record of performance and growth spanning more
than 30 years – something that came across strongly in our recently
announced annual results, which reflected both our organic and
inorganic growth.
We will continue to drive our organic growth, by making improvements to
our ‘go to market’ strategies and activities, enhancing and expanding our
service offering and expertise, and applying new technological capabilities
in new smart ways. We fundamentally believe that the combination of our
people, technology, processes and global reach will enable us to continue
to win new business, access established markets and successfully develop
new markets.
Alongside that, however, growth through acquisitions remains an important
part of our future. We continue to see consolidation across the sector and
have good visibility of deal flow of all sizes, and we will continue to take a
disciplined approach to any further acquisitions – monitoring opportunities
for further acquisitions in particular in the US, the UK and mainland Europe.
Longer term, ultimately, the pandemic will really put the resilience of fund administrators to the test, and we are likely to see some winners and losers in that respect.
Fund Administration
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23
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Sometimes referred to as the “Rainbow Nation” for its multicultural diversity,
South Africa has beautiful beaches, lush wine lands as well as forests and
lagoons. In its financial services space, South Africa can also boast of its
asset servicing growth, which has seen it become an established market
in the last 20 to 30 years. Despite its successes, there is room for growth
and opportunities to shine.
Indeed, industry experts have observed that the South African market has
evolved to a full-service securities services market with providers offering
custody and safekeeping, trustee services, securities lending, collateral
management, cash management, foreign exchange and a range of report-
ing services.
Brian Anderson, managing director, SimCorp South Africa, notes that South
Africa is a highly competitive landscape, where there has been the re-entry
of ABSA (formerly Barclays Africa Group Limited), with its acquisition of the
Société Générale business in the region. Anderson also observes bigger
players looking to further consolidate their servicing to clients, with a more
complete front-to-back view.
Anderson says: “The current industry in South Africa is under great margin
pressure, at the same time it is undergoing a transitional phase, as many
firms recognise the need to address a legacy of best of breed solutions and
outdated systems.”
As well as this, in the third-party administration arena, Anderson notes
the recent exit of international players such as J.P. Morgan and State street.
“So it’s a truly dynamic time for the industry with many opportunities for
growth and change. It is for this reason SimCorp has entered the South
Africa market. Achieving scale, automation and multi-asset coverage in
investment operations will be a big feature in making that growth happen
and an area where we believe we can support significantly,” Anderson adds.
South Africa’s asset servicing industry has become an established market in the last 20 to 30 years, but industry experts say that there is still space to grow
Maddie Saghir reports
Time to shine
images by photo_africa_sa/shutterstock.com
South Africa Focus
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25
Echoing the idea that there is further room for growth, Fiona Green
co-founder and director of Adapa Advisory comments: “In recent years,
the demand for more sophisticated reporting solutions from the pensions
sector combined with the ongoing demand for middle- and back-office
outsourcing for investment managers, has led the way for banks to expand
their offering and for the continued development of third-party fund
administration.”
Meanwhile, from a client perspective, central securities depositories are in
a position to structure solutions based on client demand. Green says that
asset managers in particular who do not consider asset servicing core to
their business are interested in a broader proposition focused on cost and
efficiency gains.
“Coming off a strong base in South Africa, a number of providers have looked
to the rest of the continent to meet growing client demand for regional
capability both from domestic investors and to support inward bound
flows,” Green affirms.
Enhancing business performance
In order for financial institutions in South Africa to enhance their business
performance in the post-trade and securities services arena, enhanced tech-
nology and the digitalisation of processes could provide opportunities here.
Additionally, Green outlines that relationship reviews in the context of ser-
vice level requirements, pricing, value-adds and risk reviews are steps to
further enhance overall business performance.
Green highlights that the South African market is already competitively
priced, which in turn has led to providers looking for real opportunities for
efficiencies and new operating models.
“In recent years new market entrants in the depository and exchange envi-
ronment have shifted the landscape and are important developments for
clients and providers alike where the focus on costs, improved automation
and the need for skilled resources are ongoing,” says Green.
She stipulates that all providers are focused on building their business
either through product capability, geographic reach or both. In such an
environment, Green stresses that it is very important that clients have a
strong relationship with their providers.
Looking at how technology can offer these enhancements, SimCorp’s
Anderson notes that there have been recent developments in the mar-
ket with the ITaC initiative on the JSE, which has prompted technology
refreshes in the derivative space and put a spotlight on internal projects.
Anderson says: “With this now completed there could be opportunities
for outsourced bureau services or a consolidation of services that provide
mainstream back-office processes. Here we believe there is a need for real-
time data and digital processes that can enable more efficient settlements
and improved service levels.”
According to Anderson, this could also lead to better accuracy and fewer
reconciling items and time taken around error handling.
However, reaching this state comes with its challenges.
Anderson remarks: “With a legacy of best of breed solutions dominating
asset servicing operations, achieving this efficiency is just not possible in
the same way a consolidated platform can.”
New ways to adapt
The effect of industry change, financial pressure, new working practices
and lifestyle operations has impacted operating models in South Africa.
The South African market can currently be characterised by a reduction
in asset valuations with transaction volatility in line with other markets
globally, according to Green.
She states: “Combined with rating agency downgrades and other economic
factors organisations are potentially going to review their businesses in
terms of core versus non-core operating requirements.”
From a provider point of view, Green says that the business needs to
make economic sense therefore a broad product offering, with multi-mar-
ket capability and a reputation for innovation is a buffer against such
market volatility.
“In the current environment, this may be challenging for certain market
participants. However you look at it, it is important for providers to have
a long term strategy as it relates to client demand for complete solutions
both domestically and internationally,” says Green.
South Africa Focus
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26
Green adds: “Additionally, with the heightened focus on innovation and
the rise of fintech as part of the fourth industrial revolution we are seeing
leaders in the industry looking to participate in different ways which benefit
the industry by bringing a diverse style of leadership which is agile and
helps enable new business models and revenue streams. Such disruptors
are key to transforming the market and economy.”
Aside from this, the global pandemic has caused disruption to a lot of
markets across the globe, it has also forced many people to work from
home. Anderson points out that if we look at the changes driven by a
COVID-19 operating environment, work from home scenarios and oper-
ational efficiencies required to improve margin, will drive a review of the
technology that asset servicers are using and require potential changes
and investment.
Anderson says: “Cloud-based solutions will be better suited to deliver
work from home demands but this will come with greater overhead
around networks and related security both physical and data. At the
same time, back-office platforms that deliver automated, multi-asset
coverage and can be deployed across several lines of business, bringing
cost optimisation in the servicing space. This will be a significant benefit
with already lean resources, being more efficiently assigned to higher-
value tasks.”
Pre- COVID-19, the biggest challenge has been margin pressures. Anderson
highlights that this has been perpetuated by the backbone of regulatory
requirements that are not necessarily seen as value-add services, but are
necessary all the same to support clients with compliance.
Digitalisation will be a key opportunity here, Anderson states. He adds:
“Beyond this, there are pressures on the provision of credit, where collat-
eral management will also be a challenge. To overcome this, firms need to
gain better visibility to the front office, as well as assets held as collateral,
to optimise their collateral management operations. Using an integrated
solution that runs through the entire investment lifecycle, from execution
to settlement provides the best business outcome.”
Elsewhere, Anderson identifies that integrating corporate actions, where
one source of data provides firms with a real-time accurate source, will also
eliminate the number of errors that cost businesses money.
“This is currently a big obstacle in the way of growth, for the South African
market,” Anderson notes.
Time to shine
In post-trade and securities services in South Africa, Green notes that the
continued developmental growth in Africa is driving demand for skilled
resources in the region.
This demand for further talent led to Adapa Advisory and HornbyChapman
to announce a joint venture earlier this year to focus on senior-level recruit-
ment to financial services companies.
Green explained that the intention is to combine local knowledge and
insights into specialist markets coupled with a global reach which brings
something unique to the region.
“Attracting new people into the asset servicing industry from other segments
in the market is a lateral way of extending the asset pool,” she says.
Other areas of opportunity and development, Anderson says, is the growth
in investment in the Unit Trust industry, as well as exchange-traded funds
(ETFs) has had a further impact on asset servicing.
ETFs are now more involved in the front office, typically helping clients
with data and distribution. Anderson explains: “They also need to deal
more closely with the broker-dealers, in the front office. As the funds are
live on the exchange, the requirements to comply with different rules in the
primary markets will draw on different understandings but essentially are
repeatable services and so could be incorporated on top of other existing
technology and services. As a result, obtaining a front to back view that is
both accurate and timely will become less a luxury and more of a necessity.”
Looking for future opportunities to shine, Green cites that global trends
in digital assets offer custodians and other participants in South Africa the
opportunity to diversify and expand capabilities to support digital assets.
According to Green, whether its cryptocurrencies or tokenised securities,
the South African market’s ability to support such assets is a growing oppor-
tunity. It is only a matter of time and the key question is who will have the
First-Mover Advantage.
Green concludes: “Whilst there is retail activity and interest in the local
market, to increase the uptake there is work to do in this space to satisfy
institutional investors particularly as it relates to regulation and the safety
and security of assets.”
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Deutsche BankGlobal Transaction Banking
This advert is for information purposes only and is designed to serve as a general overview regarding the services of Deutsche Bank AG, any of its branches and affiliates. The general description in this document relates to services offered by Global Transaction Banking of Deutsche Bank AG, any of its branches and affiliates to customers as of May 2018, which may be subject to change in the future. This advert and the general description of the services are in their nature only illustrative, do neither explicitly nor implicitly make an offer and therefore do not contain or cannot result in any contractual or non-contractual obligation or liability of Deutsche Bank AG, any of its branches or affiliates. Deutsche Bank AG is authorised under German Banking Law (competent authorities: European Central Bank and German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)) and, in the United Kingdom, by the Prudential Regulation Authority. It is subject to supervision by the European Central Bank and by BaFin, Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, and is subject to limited regulation in the United Kingdom by the Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority. Details about the extent of our authorisation and regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority are available on request. This communication has been approved and/or communicated by Deutsche Bank Group. Products or services referenced in this communication are provided by Deutsche Bank AG or by its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in accordance with appropriate local legislation and regulation. For more information: www.db.com. Copyright © May 2018 Deutsche Bank AG. All rights reserved.
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BNY Mellon has bolstered its team with the new appointment of Hyon Joo Park as country executive for Korea.
In her new role, Park will lead the team to grow
BNY Mellon’s local services and capabilities
across all businesses in Korea.
Based in Seoul, Park will report to David
Cruikshank, BNY Mellon’s chairman of
Asia Pacific.
During her career, Park has gained 25 years of
financial industry experience and has held a
range of leadership positions at top-tier global
financial institutions.
Park joins BNY Mellon with a strong background
in relationship management and the formula-
tion of regional business and client strategies, in
addition to experience in the transaction bank-
ing and commercial banking segments.
Outside Korea, Park has also been based in
London and Hong Kong, helping her to develop
a global mindset that will benefit BNY Mellon
greatly in its position as a global financial
business with a growing presence in Asia Pacific.
Park succeeds Sang Don Ji, who will be retiring
on 31 May, following three years of service with
BNY Mellon.
Cruikshank commented: “Korea is a strategic
market for BNY Mellon. With a presence in the
country spanning more than 30 years, we have
developed an immensely successful business
servicing our institutional clients, and we con-
tinue to see opportunities to further expand our
local capabilities in the years ahead.”
“Park will be at the heart of further enhancing
our growth, with the depth and breadth of her
financial services experience and understand-
ing of Korean clients’ needs. With her diverse
background and strong credentials, Park is
exceptionally well-placed to take BNY Mellon’s
business in Korea to new heights and deliver
service that is second to none for our clients”,
Cruikshank added.
JTC has hired Ronan Reilly as managing director and Imran Khan as director of the company’s new Dublin office.
Reilly has experience in capital markets, aircraft,
hedge funds, corporate taxation and structur-
ing which will serve both JTC and its clients well
as he takes up leadership of this new office. His
most recent roles in Dublin include managing
director at Law Debenture, as well as at both
Walkers and TMF Group in the years prior.
Meanwhile, Khan has a background in invest-
ment fund administration and corporate
services, with a focus on real estate, private
equity, hedge and venture capital funds.
He has led operations and business devel-
opment activities over the last 10 years,
with teams in global jurisdictions including
Ireland, Luxembourg, Channel Islands, France,
Singapore and Malaysia.
Previously, Khan served as global head of oper-
ations for private capital services at RBC and
prior to that as Asia Pacific regional director at
Vistra Group.
The appointments follow JTC’s recent acqui-
sition of the corporate services business
Cornerstone in Dublin, which extends the
company’s service offering to global corporates,
aviation and multi-asset managers.
JTC explained that having a presence in Ireland
to provide corporate and fund administration,
driven by strong demand from existing JTC
clients and prospects, will ensure that the busi-
ness continues to grow in the right direction.
The Dublin office will be built on the firm’s core
corporate services and capital markets offering,
Industry Appointments
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29
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with a view to expand into fund administration
and managed company services. The Dublin
office will work closely with JTC’s global offices.
Commenting on the appointments, Jon Jennings,
group head of institutional client services said:
“Our recent move into Ireland has been long-an-
ticipated and I am delighted to announce the
appointments of Ronan Reilly and Imran Khan at
the helm of this venture. Their experience really
speaks for itself and they are both incredibly well
regarded within the industry – I have confidence
that they will lead us successfully in Dublin and
see that our clients receive the best possible ser-
vice, right in the heart of Ireland’s capital.”
Deutsche Bank has appointed Kamran Khan to the newly created role of head of environmental, social and governance (ESG) for Asia Pacific (APAC).
In this new role, Khan will be responsible for
developing and coordinating the regional
business strategy around ESG across all of the
bank’s business divisions in APAC. Based in
Singapore, Khan will report regionally to Werner
Steinmueller, APAC CEO, and locally to David
Lynne, Singapore chief country officer, head of
corporate bank APAC, and head of fixed income
and currencies APAC.
During his career, Khan was appointed by the
Obama White House to serve as head of global
investments and operations at the US Millennium
Challenge Corporation. He has also established
the World Bank Group Hub in Singapore and led
the World Bank’s Infrastructure Finance Practice
in East Asia.
Additionally, he has led investments in sus-
tainable development across Asia, Africa, Latin
America and Eastern Europe. Most recently, he
founded and led an impact fund targeting com-
panies focused on achieving UN sustainable
development goals.
Commenting on the appointment, Steinmueller
said: “ESG is a key strategic priority for us globally
and regionally, and one that spans the full spec-
trum of our businesses. We are pleased to have
someone of Khan’s calibre joining to harness the
strength of our platform and put our ambition
into action. The ESG imperative in APAC is incred-
ibly strong. We recognise that as a bank with one
of the broadest and deepest networks in local
markets across the region, we have a unique role
to play in the development of ESG frameworks
and capabilities here. We are committed to push-
ing the ESG agenda forward in Asia Pacific, and
Khan’s appointment is but the first step along
that path.”
Aztec Group, an independent fund and corporate services provider, has added to its real assets leadership team in Luxembourg and Jersey.
In Luxembourg, Farhan Ahmed who joined Aztec
Group as a director in 2018 has transitioned to
the role of Luxembourg head of real assets.
In his new role, Ahmed will oversee all client
relationship management, administration and
accountancy for a portfolio of real estate and
infrastructure fund managers.
Before Aztec Group, Ahmed was a director at a
big four accountancy firm. He has experience in
the real estate, private equity, infrastructure and
banking sectors.
Meanwhile, Richard Anthony, who is also a mem-
ber of the group’s real assets leadership team, has
assumed the role of head of real assets in Jersey.
As jurisdictional head of the real assets team, he
will continue to oversee a range of outsourcing
activities for clients while playing a key role in
Aztec Group’s business development efforts.
Paul Conroy, group head of real assets at the
Aztec Group, commented: “Farhan Ahmed and
Richard Anthony are two outstanding profes-
sionals who bring both depth and breadth of
experience and a proven track record in service
excellence to the team. They have both made an
enormous contribution to the continued success
of our real assets offering and their promotions
are a clear reflection of their efforts and the
leadership that they’ve shown. As always, it’s
particularly pleasing to promote from within the
team and provide our people with the oppor-
tunity to fulfil their career aspirations with the
group. Congratulations to Ahmed and Anthony
on their promotions.”
W: www.assetservicingtimes.com T: @ASTimes_
Editor: Becky Bellamy [email protected] +44 (0)208 075 0927
Reporter: Maddie Saghir [email protected] +44 (0)208 075 0925
Contributor: Maria Ward-Brennan [email protected]
Designer: James Hickman [email protected] +44 (0)208 075 0930
Publisher: Justin Lawson [email protected] +44 (0)208 075 0929
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Published by Black Knight Media Ltd Copyright © 2020 All rights reserved
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